How is practicing mindfulness like being a buffalo?

Video Transcription

Interviewer: “Dr. Skinner there are two metaphors that you used, the Buffalo and then the wave. I don't know if you want to tell that story, the Buffalo story, in brief? I think those two examples really explain this concept very well.”

Dr. Skinner: “One of the things that I'll share is the Buffalo story. They talk about on the plains of Colorado where you have the cows and the Buffaloes, they share the same plane. When the storms come over the hills, the Southwest Hills, the buffalo and the cows respond in very different ways.

The cows typically move away from the storm, or attempt to move away from storm, and the storm will come. As it passes them, they are just exposing themselves longer and longer to the storm. I think that's what happens when we have emotions and we want to run from them or we don't want to feel them. We turn to maybe an addictive habit or something that's unhealthy because we're trying to get away from this uncomfortable feeling that Dallin was just talking about.

In contrast, they say the Buffaloes do one of two things. They get together and they'll just stand there and face the storm. They say ‘Here's a storm, here it comes.’ Some buffaloes actually charge Into the storm. They say ‘Here's this feeling, here’s this thing, and oh man this is an intense experience, I'm with it.’”

Interviewer: “And then the wave? When a wave is coming, what is our natural tendency? It’s to turn and it knocks us over.”

Dr. Skinner: “We're just going to go into it. The reason you want to do that the force going that direction, metaphorically and literally, if you try to fight against that compulsive drive you don't win. It's going to push you back. Turning and maybe even going under it, which is a very big part of mindfulness, is going deeper into the emotion, it really is beneficial.”